Known and strange things

I want to preface all other thoughts with the recommendation that you take this collection slowly. I worked within the parameters of a library loan period to finish this book, and I wish I'd had more time, both to appreciate the variety in subject matter and tone among the more thoughtful and even idyllic musings earlier in the collection, and to pace myself in encountering the often very heavy, dark material dealt with in the second half. 
Captivatingly beautiful writing where the subject matter allows such flourishes, more straight-forward eloquence where the facts take centre stage. 

Many of the essays in the first two sections appear in the tone of a review or an obituary. As skilled a writer as he is, Cole's ability to focus in on his subject, a person, object or art form, often means the best quotes I wanted to pull out, were actually an appropriate centring and distillation of others' words. As a result I now have a range of other creatives I want to look into right away.

 Appreciable range of creatives and results touched upon: novelists, musicians, filmmakers/directors, poets, photographers, aka within art: literature, photography, music, film, poetry.
 
What also stood out to me was how important it is to the expansion of art and the mind, to gaining new perspectives and increasing empathy, that people, artists in particular, can travel.

I've included brief notes on essays that particularly struck me, but they're no substitution for actually reading Cole's work, and though it was not a comfortable experience, the essays towards the end are nonetheless important additions to the dialogue surrounding issues humanity continues to struggle with: racism, violence, politics, pursuit of justice, quality of life. 

Black Body - response to essays in Notes on a Native Son, feels like the missing piece to that collection for the modern reader, though as usual, feels deplorable to still be topical, re: racism

Natives on the Boat - racism in the older generation, subtle forms, how a person can be skilled, kind in that moment, still a racist

Poetry of the Disregarded- brief but gorgeous commingling of one writer admiring another 

In Place of Thought - 4 searing pages, please read

Unnamed Lake - conscience and the unconscious, what atrocities have been recorded, the helplessness in watching archive footage and not being able to change the actions taken, what bothers us in the wee hours of the night 

Portrait of a Lady - African portrait/people photographers, past and present, subjects of photos asserting independence, how they wish to be seen,  especially women, lesbian and transgender, contrast to how white colonialists and explorers took pictures of ‘natives' - a reminder of how art can function to change perspectives  

Finders Keepers - preservation and appropriation, art vs volume, the flood of digital images,  assigning credit, commentary on it as creative statement, collage works of many collected by one -who owns it then? - intriguing question from an information management standpoint 

Google's Macchia - also looking at digital photography - how do we judge it, curate it, make new art from it - my fave for being so open to creative possibilities rather than JUST fear around surveillance, copyright, etc

The Reprint - angle on Obama's election that, no surprise, as a white Canadian, I hadn't considered previously, a perspective I can't inhabit, but am grateful he shared with readers

Reader's War - the rewriting of opening sentences within the text is incredibly impactful, I have trouble with Cole's ‘torn' back and forth - perhaps being of a different country means I can't see the fine line of necessity drawn for military justification, even as he chastises the use of drones and assasinations

What It Is - barely two pages, such a glorious fuck you to ridiculous, nonsensical, hysteria-mongering, conservative-leaning headlines

Shadows in Sao Paulo - continuing in themes of: 1) how a photograph is not simply capturing the truth, manipulation by lense chosen, aspects focused on, etc; 2) traveling to different places and reflecting on the art and history, the artists, people who lived/visited/worked there 

The Island - three page punch in the face, Commemorative? Impactful

White Savior Industrial Complex - Just. Read it. 

Perplexed ...Perplexed - Such an eloquent look at a topic I didn't want to make eye contact with - mob violence/killings

A Piece of the Wall - Visceral reminder of Solito - (bio of an immigrant's crossing) - attempts balance of perspectives in who is interviewed, but it's so obvious that compassion is only visible in those who want to help, want a demilitarized, open border. Those enforcing border all appear terse, uninterested in nuance, callous. President at the time not excluded from censure for stance on immigrants/immigrant law. 

 ⚠️ Discussion of racism, xenophobia, apartheid, (war) atrocites, genocide, torture, religious intolerance, iconoclasm (destruction of religious buildings/art), street violence, history of colonialism, enslavement, immigrant border crossing deaths